Shades
by Wildeve of the Heath
Summary: Ash had two options, save the mission or save a teammate. Why not do both? ASH/IQ


I do not own Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege

Shades

Ash had two options, save the mission or save a teammate. Why not do both? ASH/IQ

A/N: On-duty, the operators will go by their codenames, off-duty, they will go by their legal names. Multi-chapter.

* * *

All it took was one wrong move.

It was a disarming situation at the American embassy in Berlin. Quick and clean was never her style, though maybe in hindsight she should have taken some caution. To her, it had become routine to take the enemy by surprise but this time, she was caught off guard.

Ash bounded around the corner after blowing a hole a good twenty meters away; it would allow Glaz to have full view of the room where the hostage was, better yet, she tossed in a smoke grenade for him. She heard him speak over the com, _"Спасибо, Красная..."_

Just in front of her was a White Mask caught by surprise, she shot him right between the eyes with her pistol before switching to her R4. Her breath was an easy stream that came from years of running, her mind was racing as adrenaline rushed through her. She skidded to a halt in front of a boarded door, she knelt. "Glaz, what's in there?"

 _"Four, no wait-"_ A rifle's shot rang out. _"-three now, hiding in corners out of sight. Bomb in there too."_

Ash brought out a breach charge for the wall and slapped it on as quick as she could. She bolted back several meters and clicked the detonator to blast another hole. Curses and warnings shouts from within the room before she rushed in and shot down two of the enemy. The third moved out of his corner but then crumpled to the floor as quick as he stood up thanks to Glaz.

As she brought down the refused and typed, she heard Thermite ask _,"IQ? You got location of the second?"_

Nothing, though she did not notice as she was busy inputting the appropriate codes. It was usually her job as she was able to hold onto the long string of numbers and letters longer than most on the team. If it were not her, Twitch would be on it, or IQ.

 _"IQ?_ " He asked again.

Again, silence.

Ash managed to disarm the bomb and her attention was brought to the radio silence from IQ. She picked up the defuser and readied to go to the next one, she said her name this time, _"IQ? You there?"_

Nothing.

 _"Shit,"_ Thermite murmured, neither could check where she was as they had lost their drones.

"Where was she last?"

 _"Basement, South,"_ Glaz reported, _"I saw her rush there."_

"Thermite, get in from East side, make some noise, I'll get in and get her from the West," she laid out to them.

 _"Got it,"_ Thermite said. _"Glaz, got my six?"_

 _"Give me a moment to get to another position..."_

She rushed down the stairs before stopping at the last flight before the basement. Her left hand gripped her R4 taut, she listened carefully and heard murmurs from down the hall below her. Slowly, her breathing became calm yet silent, eyes trained ahead of her.

Glaz finally spoke, _"In position..."_

 _"Big fucking holes are coming right up,"_ he said, _"five seconds, Ash."_

Those five seconds, she swore she could hear her own heartbeat. Soon enough, the ground rumbled before her as the deafening explosions reverberated through the stone halls. Shouts from the tangos and firefight came alive, allowing her to pinpoint where they were. She sprinted down the hallway, her boots pounding concrete.

She checked every corner and room that was open, her barrel pointing in instinctively.

Empty. All of them.

Eventually she neared the end where the most commotion was but she hid quickly in a room for the enemy to pass adjacently towards Thermite. With their backs to her, she rushed around the corner and found IQ on the ground face down. A pool of blood came from her abdomen, Ash knelt down on one knee beside her and shook her, no response.

Glass from her visor was strewn across the floor, more blood came from her mouth. A bullet grazed her? She might have busted it, something, regardless, Ash glanced up and saw the bomb, that damn bomb. Duty called first, she left IQ and made a beeline for the objective, she slammed down the defuser and punched in the codes once more.

"Found her and the bomb, disarming it right now," Ash reported, once done, she stated,"going to move IQ now."

"Go ahead..."

The firefight continued, she took the chance to head to IQ as the defuser did its job. Holstering her R4, she got down on her knee and wrapped her arms around her waist. Through her fingerless glove she could feel her warm blood. Grimacing, she reached into her pocket to pull out a thick syringe, one of Doc's gadgets. She inserted it into IQ's side and pushed in, causing the little pellets to enter her wound and expand.

Once done, she hauled her up and was about to bring her to her shoulder until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move, somewhere in the room with the bomb.

One hand released IQ and reached for her pistol but she was met with a boot to the face.

She yelped out of shock as she felt her cheekbone crack; her shades were cracked and the lens had chipped apart. She crumpled to the floor with IQ tumbling out of her grip and landed like dead weight. Fighting through the radiating pain of her cheekbone, her hand was on her pistol, she snapped it out and aimed, only to have the butt of a rifle bashed into the back of her head.

Now that was the blow that blacked out her world.

One wrong move, that was all it took.

It was over for her, as she believed.

Yet she woke up in a white room, her shades were gone and the bright light of a medical bay made it look like she was ascending to heaven. Her jaw ached, eyes were too blurred to discern anything but the brightness. Groaning, she tried to sit up, only to have a hand placed firmly on her chest to keep her down.

"Not so fast, Cohen," came Gustave's familiar voice.

"...did we finish the mission?" She asked softly, dazed, man, he must have pumped her full of drugs.

His voice wavered in her ears. "You did, and you managed to save Weiss, though you must have been out of your mind to try and do both. You'll be debriefed tomorrow evening. Just rest now."

Eliza nodded and sighed, she closed her eyes.

A job well done.

It could have gone better but hey, it worked in the end.

-...-

Gustave released her from his care the around noon.

She was given her civilian clothes thanks to Emmanuelle.

Some medication for the pain and migraines that she would no doubt have. Upon being able to walk about, she checked on Monika in the other room. From the open door, she saw she was no longer in critical condition though she did look worse for wear. A gauze covered her mouth, she had a black eye; no doubt under her gown there were bandages covering her stomach.

At least she got out alive.

Both of them.

Eliza rolled her shoulders as they felt a bit stiff, she decided that she would do better resting in her own quarters.

The infirmary was set up in HQ given that they were counter terrorist operatives and they do not know the exact extent the White Masks can have influence. Six decided it best to treat their wounded where they had the most administrative control. There were more doctors on site other than Gustave though he preferred to do his work both on the field and in the office, though the latter was only when he was on hand.

She made her way to the elevator and headed up to her floor. Foot tapping on the ground, she waited for it to reach the fourth.

Upon the doors opening, she was greeted by Tina and Meghan, both garbed in their field outfits though they lacked their vests.

"Heading out already?" Eliza asked as they entered the elevator once she passed.

"No, just some target training," Tina replied, but Meghan gave a low whistle.

"Damn, that's a big bruise you got there," she commented,"perfect boot print too, looks like the asshole curb stomped you."

Eliza raised a brow before reaching to graze her cheek. "That big?"

"Very," Tina said, Eliza winced slightly.

Still tender.

They entered the elevator and congratulated her on her successful mission.

 _Barely_ , she thought to herself.

Her mind wracked over the fact that she was jumped by one of those bastards. While she considered herself lucky that he did not shoot her, she also found it ridiculous that she just could not pull her damn pistol out on time. Well, he _did_ sneak up on her and she _was_ busy trying to save IQ; somehow the mission went through and they all got out of there with their lives.

She decided to push those thoughts out of her mind.

Just pay attention some more, that was it.

She entered her room to find that it was unlocked, just as she had left it yesterday morning.

Inside were numerous blueprints of her M120 CREM on the wall over her desk. Schematics from the launcher itself to the breach charge and its components. Her desk itself was cluttered with papers, it was an organized mess as she liked to call it. Reports were on one side, demolition blueprints and hastily scrawled out notes on the other.

Her laptop was there as well, everything looked like it was all in order save for one thing.

A glasses case sat in the middle of it all.

She opened it to find that her shades were broken. The frame on the side was split in two, the lenses were cracked and there were numerous holes that were lined with jagged edges. She frowned as she pulled out her chair to sit and stare at them in her hands. These were from her days of being in the FBI, she received them once she joined and always wore them, even at night.

Eliza sighed heavily, she felt like they were a part of her. She had them for so long, she even considered them lucky...maybe it was the charm that left her being kicked in the face rather than having her head being blown off yesterday, maybe they helped her save Monika's life as well. Snapping the case closed, she carefully placed it to the side and turned on her laptop.

She went over to her bed and rested on her back, her knees pulled up so she could see and type.

She scrolled through messages, e-mail, the usual stuff.

Some messages were from her mother and sisters, telling her about their days and hoping she was alright. They even asked her when she was free to have a video call. She replied immediately, not telling them what had happened because for one, it was classified, and two, she did not want them to worry. After that, she went through the message board that Rainbow had put up.

Emmanuelle created it, she encrypted and fire-walled of course, so that the team could communicate. Older members did not have a Facebook and the younger ones were instructed to delete themselves off any and all social media. Eliza was fine with that, her need to work outweighed her need for social networks. She scrolled through the message boards to find a few amusing posts.

There was a thread of who had the best gun on the Team, as expected, the men were rampant in this.

Someone was complaining about how an unknown person consumed their lunch a couple days ago.

Then there was a poll of what movie to watch as a group on Saturday night.

Eliza quickly voted for Bad Boys II, it was a good movie after all, don't judge! Lots of explosions, funny bits, drama, romance, Will Smith...

Hours were spent just going through the internet, a nice break and a piece of normalcy for her. Gustave told her to rest today so where was the harm?

-...-

The debriefing for Eliza went well.

Six told her that she was able to disable the bombs and had managed to save Monika, though at the cost of injuring herself.

"You performed well and secured the objective before going after Weiss," Six commended her.

"Priority first, Ma'am," she said as she stood before her desk in standby.

"Though it would do better for yourself and your teammates if you practiced more caution. I don't have to remind you of this every time, Cohen."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Other than that, you deserve five days off, you have been working on missions back to back. Though this does not warrant a leave to go, just use these days to recuperate for now unless we need you."

"Thank you, Ma'am..." She paused for a moment, then she remembered something. "...also, may I request something?"

"If it is reasonable," Six said with a curt nod.

"My Ray-Ban was damaged on the last mission, I would like to have a replacement for them."

"...I can arrange for that."

"Thank you, Ma'am, I highly appreciate it."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Alright, Cohen, you are dismissed."

-...-

It took several days for Monika to wake up.

When Emmanuelle told her, Eliza hopped out of bed and got some decent clothes on. She decided to visit her to check on how she was doing, she had nothing to do today. A few of the team went on a mission yesterday and had not come back yet, she was not needed as Yumiko filled in for her. Gustave had left with them to ensure they had a trained field medic on hand.

This left the infirmary with the military doctors.

Eliza entered the room after one of them said she was ready to speak.

"Hey," she said softly, Monika was laying on her back; she turned her head to look at her and raised her hand weakly to give a small wave. Eliza went and pulled up a chair to sit by her side.

"Doc said that we finished the job," she said in a hoarse voice.

The gauze that covered her mouth was removed; the corner of her mouth had been stitched up, causing her to move her lips as little as possible.

Her right eye was swollen shut so that only her left could see her.

"Yeah, we did," Eliza told her.

"...how long have I been out?"

"Six days."

"Mein Gott," she uttered.

"Have any idea how they got you?"

"...not sure, I can't really remember," she admitted. "So you saved me?"

Eliza nodded, she smirked. "Yeah, even disabled the bomb too. Talk about multitasking. Six said she was impressed, she's going give me a medal."

"Bullshit, you did your job."

Eliza chuckled and rolled her eyes, still smiling,"Alright, she said I did well. Did anyone visit you?"

"Emmanuelle, she got me some flowers, then Marius and the boys visited me this morning," she recalled. "Never been shot before, really."

"Think of it as your first, you don't really live in this line of work until you get a bullet or two in you. You feeling alright?"

"I am on a lot painkillers right now, I am pretty sure that I am as high as a kite," she said, she laughed gently through her nose and closed her eyes. She breathed deeply and then exhaled. "Thank you, Eliza..."

Eliza's smile slightly faded.

Many people say thanks for numerous things whether it be out of sarcasm or use of a saving grace yet hearing it from Monika was somewhat different. She was grateful for her life and how Eliza risked the mission and her own life to at least stop the bleeding. Now that she thought about it, she really did save a life.

Sure she killed men who were inches away from her teammates, yet here she had actively helped a downed teammate escape death. It was not in her forte to conduct medical procedures, though she did have basic medical training for the field just like every other person. It dawned on her that Monika would not be talking to her if it were not for her actions.

She never had to do anything related to treating severe wounds in her time.

Lost in her thoughts, she was pulled out of it as she heard her say,"I would have done the same for you."

"Huh?"

Monika had fallen asleep.

"Monika?"

But Eliza did hear her.

* * *

A/N: This story was based on a gameplay, except that while I was Ash, a friend was Twitch...long story short, I accidentally downed her because she startled me from coming up from behind, then I placed down the defuser and before I left it to go and help her up but the opposing players destroyed the defuser soooooo the lesson here: don't leave the goddamn defuser alone.


End file.
